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Chilali
History Chilali is the first child and only daughter of a fur trader in the Northern Water tribe. While her father's international trading sphere was limited to the most northerly parts of the Earth Kingdom, the family was still able to support itself comfortably. When her parents realized they had a waterbender on their hands, they immediately sent her off to be educated as a healer. Chilali was a determined student, but no amount of determination could conquer her weak stomach. As good as she may have been at healing fractured bones and bruises and easing illness, as soon as visible blood entered the equation she was out like a light. This combined with her youth significantly reduced any potential usefulness during the war. After the war came to an end, Chilali's father took advantage of the opening of global trade and expanded his trading connections to Ba Sing Se, eventually moving the family there in late 102 ASC. Upon arriving in the new country, they were required to live in the Lower Ring as per custom (and as per their monetary status, as moving continents is quite taxing on financial reserves). It was there that Chilali first saw wide-spread poor health, and it bothered her so much she felt compelled to do something about it. She started healing sick and mildly-injured people in her new neighborhood as favors, but enough of her neighbors told other people and enough people insisted on paying her at least something that she was able to contribute a modest sum to the family coffers. This combined with the prosperity and growth of her father's business allowed them to move to the Middle Ring when Chilali was thirteen. However, this did not stop Chilali from continuing to do her medical work in the Lower Ring as the significantly cheaper alternative to an official Earth-Kingdom-trained physician. Her income went towards her little brother's education, who her family hopes to send to the University at Ba Sing Se when he is old enough. It was mostly a pipe dream, but as it kept Chilali's parents from looking for an appropriate husband for her, Chilali did not complain. The Plague When the Plague first broke out in the Lower Ring, Chilali was barely fifteen. She worked exceedingly long hours there before the Rings were officially separated, at which point she was forcibly separated from her patients. This also caused a serious family problem in that Chilali's father was no longer getting the fur imports that were necessary for the family income. In order to help make ends meet without having to dip into the business money, Chilali began healing sick and injured people in the Middle Ring as house-calls. Eventually she started taking on patients with the Plague as her patients' families were willing to pay good sums of money for medical treatment without having to go to the clinics. However, treating Plague victims outside of the clinics was illegal, and eventually Chilali may or may not have caught the government's attention--"may or may not" because she didn't stick around long enough to find out. While looking for a safe place to be, she eventually found employment working as a healer attached to a (relatively) respectable bordello known as the Red Lily. Appearance Chilali is a relatively pretty girl, though she rarely takes pains with her appearance. Her dark brown hair is very long, mid-thigh length when left hanging loose, though she almost always ties it back in a knot or a long braid to keep it out of the way. Her features are delicate and match her generally fine-boned structure. Her eyes are a very pale blue that's almost grey. Her honey-colored skin is quite pale for a member of the Water Tribe, though she is quite dark compared to the merchants' wives and daughters in Ba Sing Se. She has a figure that just barely passes the hourglass mark. As she has lived in Ba Sing Se for several years, Chilali usually wears shades of green and yellow in simple Earth Kingdom styles, though she prefers the bluer greens and paler yellows as she finds the brighter shades too harsh on the eye. When travelling through the City she takes care to dress a little on the shabby side; as she has no combat skills, her best defense against thieves and other unsavory sorts is to look as unremarkable as possible. The only things she has that are definitively Water Tribe are some hair ornaments and other jewelry items that belonged to her great-grandmother. These represent a good part of her dowry, or at least the part of her dowry of which she is aware. Healing Skills Chilali has been trained as a healer, though due to her acute hemophobia her area of expertise is a little unusual. As she is incapable of working in an environment with the smell, sight, or feel of blood without experiencing vasovagal syncope (i.e. fainting), much of her training was in the areas of the healing arts that are usually less emphasized: curing of illnesses, healing stress injuries, and the alleviation/reduction of pain for recurring conditions such as arthritis. In an emergency situation she can stabilize a patient with traumatic (but still non-bleeding) injuries, though it is unlikely she would be able to heal her patient entirely. Due to an experiment with a strange woman in Ba Sing Se, Chilali discovered that it is possible for Waterbending healing to reduce and possibly even entirely remove scar tissue and replace it with normal tissue, though she has not had an opportunity to find out how long a complete reduction would take or whether it is feasible in the long-run. Category:Water Tribe Category:Original Characters